Namibia

This publication provides comprehensive and consistent information on African central government debt statistics for the period 2003-2012. Detailed quantitative information on central government debt instruments is provided for 17 countries to meet the requirements of debt managers, other financial policy makers, and market analysts. A cross country overview on African debt management policies and country policy notes provides background information on debt issuance as well as on the institutional and regulatory framework governing debt management policy.

This publication provides comprehensive and consistent information on African central government debt statistics for the period 2003-2013. Detailed quantitative information on central government debt instruments is provided for 17 countries to meet the requirements of debt managers, other financial policy makers and market analysts. A cross country overview on African debt management policies and country policy notes provides background information on debt issuance as well as on the institutional and regulatory framework governing debt management policy

Natural hazard-induced disasters (NHID), such as floods, droughts, severe storms, and animal pests and diseases have significant, widespread and long-lasting impacts on agricultural sectors around the world. With climate change set to amplify many of these impacts, a “business-as-usual” approach to disaster risk management in agriculture cannot continue if we are to meet the challenges of agricultural productivity and sustainability growth, and sustainable development. Drawing from seven case studies – Chile, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States – this joint OECD-FAO report argues for a new approach to building resilience to NHID in agriculture. It explores the policy measures, governance arrangements, on-farm strategies and other initiatives that countries are using to increase agricultural resilience to NHID, highlighting emerging good practices. It offers concrete recommendations on what more needs to be done to shift from coping with the impacts of disasters, to an ex ante approach that focuses on preventing and mitigating the impacts of disasters, helping the sector be better prepared to respond to disasters, and to adapt and transform in order to be better positioned for future disasters.

Using household data from 15 countries in Latin America and Africa, this paper explores linkages between informality and education-occupation matching. The paper applies a unified methodology to measuring education-occupation mismatches and informality, consistently with the international labour and statistical standards in this area. The results suggest that in the majority of low- and middle-income developing countries with available data, workers in informal jobs have higher odds of being undereducated as compared to workers in formal jobs. Workers in formal jobs, in contrast, have higher chances of being overeducated. These results are consistent for dependent as well as for independent workers. They also hold for men and for women according to the gender-disaggregated analysis. Moreover, in the majority of countries considered in this paper, the matching-informality nexus is also related to the extent of informality in a given area: in labour markets with higher informality, informal workers in particular have a higher chance of being undereducated. The paper discusses policy implications of these findings.

Namibia is an upper middle-income country with one of the most comprehensive social protection systems in Africa. It provides cash transfers and complementary social assistance to a range of vulnerable groups including children, the elderly and people with disabilities, at a cost equivalent to 4.5% of GDP in 2016/17. Public-sector workers are well covered by social insurance, although there are gaps in provision for the private sector. Social protection, in particular cash transfers, has proven highly effective at reducing poverty and inequality and mitigating the impact of high unemployment, although these remain persistent challenges. For Namibia to achieve its development objectives, social protection will need to play an even greater role in the future, but scaling up social protection in the current context of low economic growth and fiscal consolidation will be challenging. This paper charts the evolution of social protection provision and expenditure, locates social protection within the context of Namibia’s broader fiscal framework and proposes options for enhancing its impact without increasing public spending.

Informal employment, defined through the lack of employment-based social protection, constitutes the bulk of employment in developing countries, and entails a level of vulnerability to poverty and other risks that are borne by all who are dependent on informal work income. Results from the Key Indicators of Informality based on Individuals and their Households database (KIIbIH) show that a disproportionately large number of middle‑class informal economy workers receive remittances. Such results confirm that risk management strategies, such as migration, play a part in minimising the potential risks of informal work for middle‑class informal households who may not be eligible to social assistance. They further suggest that middle‑class informal workers may have a solvent demand for social insurance so that, if informality-robust social insurance schemes were made available to them, remittances could potentially be channelled to finance the extension of social insurance to the informal economy.

Today, the global youth population is at its highest ever and still growing, with the highest proportion of youth living in Africa and Asia, and a majority of them in rural areas. Young people in rural areas face the double challenge of age-specific vulnerabilities and underdevelopment of rural areas. While agriculture absorbs the majority of rural workers in developing countries, low pay and poor working conditions make it difficult to sustain rural livelihoods. Potential job opportunities for rural youth exist in agriculture and along the agri-food value chain, however. Growing populations, urbanisation and rising incomes of the working class are increasing demand for more diverse and higher value added agricultural and food products in Africa and developing Asia. This demand will create a need for off-farm labour, especially in agribusinesses, which tends to be better paid and located in rural areas and secondary towns. It could boost job creation in the food economy provided that local food systems were mobilised to take up the challenge of higher and changing domestic demand for food.

Namibia has eleven tax agreements in force, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. None of those agreements comply with the minimum standard.

Namibia can legally issue the following four types of rulings within the scope of the transparency framework: (i) cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles; (ii) rulings providing for unilateral downward adjustments; (iii) permanent establishment rulings; and (iv) related party conduit rulings.

Namibia has not yet introduced a requirement for the filing of CbC reports, as required under the BEPS Action 13 (CbC reporting) minimum standard.

Namibia has eleven tax agreements in force, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. None of those agreements comply with the minimum standard.

Namibia can legally issue the following four types of rulings within the scope of the transparency framework: (i) cross-border unilateral APAs and any other cross-border unilateral tax rulings (such as an advance tax ruling) covering transfer pricing or the application of transfer pricing principles; (ii) rulings providing for unilateral downward adjustments; (iii) permanent establishment rulings; and (iv) related party conduit rulings.

Namibia has not yet introduced a requirement for the filing of CbC reports, as required under the BEPS Action 13 (CbC reporting) minimum standard.

There is very little land value capture in Namibia (). The lack of a legal definition of land value capture in the country, along with strong decentralisation, has led to ad hoc applications of land value capture that may vastly differ in nature and enforcement among local governments. Public land leasing is practiced with a general goal of redistributing land post-independence in 1990 and generating revenue, although little revenue is generated in practice. Developer obligations are limited to endowment fees related to the subdivision and creation of new properties, and betterment charges related to the increased value of land due to government rezoning.

Namibia has eleven tax agreements in force, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. None of those agreements comply with the minimum standard.